Closure for collapsible tubes



Dec. 31, 1935. w. DINNES CLOSURE FOR COLLAPSIBLE TUBES Filed Jan. 31,1935 INVENTOR. a; Zhhnes ATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 31, 1935 PATENT OFFICE CLOSURE FOR COLLAPSIBLE TUBESWilliam Dinnes, Evon Township, Oakland County, Mich.

Application January 31, 1935, Serial No. 4,343

1 Claim.

This invention relates to closures for collapsible tubes. It is anobject of the invention to provide such a closure which normallyprevents the escape of the contents of the tube, but throughwhich 5 thecontents pass when sufilcient pressure is ex erted in the conventionalmanner upon the walls of the tube; thus I aim to provide a closure noportion of which has to be removed before squeezing some of the contentsfrom the tube.

10 Another object of the invention is to provide such a closure whichautomatically closes so that a substantially air tight joint is made assoon as pressure upon the walls of the tube ceases.

A further object of the invention is to provide 15 a closure comprisingan annular member adapted to be mounted upon the outlet extremity of. acollapsible tube, and having a resilient apertured plate at its outerextremity in combination with a stopper arranged within the annularmember 20 which normally closes the plate aperture.

Having thus briefly stated some of the major objects and advantages ofthe invention, I will now proceed to describe the construction thereofin detail with the aid of the accompanying draw- 5 ing, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a sectional view of the closure mounted upon theoutlet of a conventional collapsible tube.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the closure.

30 Figure 3 is a plan View of the stopper.

Figure 4 is a detail showing a modification wherein the periphery of theannular member is grooved to receive the inturned peripheral margin ofthe resilient plate.

35 Referring to the drawing, and particularly to Figures 1, 2 and 3thereof, I designates an annular member, which, in its preferred form,has an inwardly projecting flange 2 at its inner extremity. Through theflange 2 a threaded opening 3 is 40 formed to engage the externallythreaded outlet 4 of a conventional tube 5. A plate 6 is provided withan annular flange around. its periphery which is secured in thisinstance within the outer extremity of the bore of the member 1.

45 The plate 6 has a flat circular portion 8 adjacent the annular memberi which extends at right angles to the latter for a short distance, andthe central portion 9 of the plate is normally sprung so that the upperface thereof is concave.

50 This central plate portion is quite thin so that positive pressureexerted against it from within causes it to bell outwards as indicatedat 9a in Figure 1. This central plate portion is however so made that assoon as the pressure exerted against 55 it from within ceases itimmediately springs back to its initial position.

Mounted within the annular flange 1 is an annular guide H to which astopper i2 is secured by means of arms IS. The stopper is spaced fromthe tube outlet 4 and is so positioned relative to the plate aperture lthat it normally extends into the latter and closes it. But as soon aspressure is exerted against the underside of the central plate portion 9by material being squeezed from the tube 5 this plate portion assumesits outward position 9a, and then the material is free to pass betweenthe stopper and the plate and through the aperture I0 in the latter.When the squeezing of the tube ceases the central plate por- 10 tion 9springs back to its initial position and the aperture is again closed bythe stopper l2.

As the stopper is spaced from the tube outlet 4 the space within themember I normally remains filled with material from the tube. But, aspreviously stated, the stopper normally makes a substantially air tightjoint with the central plate portion 9 and therefore the material withinthe closure is effectually protected from the air.

Figure 4 is a detail showing another modiflcation. In this case theflange la, around the plate Ea is turned down exteriorly of the memberIa. Around the latter intermediately of its height an annular groove lbis formed into which theperipheral margin lb of the flange 1a is flexedto hold the plate 6a in position. The annular guide H- from which thearms l3 extend is firmly engaged within the bore of the member la.

While in the foregoing the preferred embodiments of the invention havebeen described and shown, it is understood that further modificationsmay be made thereto so long as these further modifications fall withinthe scope of the appended claim.

What I claim is:

A closure for collapsible tubes comprising a cylindrical member having aresilient centrally apertured plate extending across one extremity, saidplate normally being centrally sprung so that its outer face is ofsubstantially concave form, a stopper mounted within the member normallyextending into and closing the plate aperture, a flange beneath theplate and stopper closing the opposite extremity of the member, saidflange having a threaded opening therethrough engaging the threadedoutlet of a collapsible tube which projects inwardly beyond the innerface of the flange so that the lower portion of a storage space withinthe member occurs beneath the top of the outlet, said cylindricalmember, flange and resilient plate normally enclosing said storage spacewhich receives a portion of the tube contents so that pressure exertedupon the tube after the storage space is full causes the member contentsto force the resilient plate outwardly out of engagement with thestopper thereby permitting the passage of said contents through theplate aperture.

WILLIAM DINNES.

